YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

STATE: Michigan

COUNTY: Ogemaw County

NEAREST TOWN: Prescott

NEAREST ROAD: Clark Road

OBSERVED: While sitting around the bonfire listening to music and talking our family heard screams out in the distance. They sounded like a party that turned into chaos. At first we figured it was nothing but then after hearing Cliff scream on Finding Bigfoot we figured we heard a Bigfoot Up North so we thought we should report it.

ALSO NOTICED: Continued to hear them years later but eventually died down until we heard something again that sounded close to it in 2011.

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes, my whole family heard the screams. Probably around 8 people. Just listening to music and talking around the bonfire

OTHER STORIES: Yea, just the years before and years after hearing the noises continue. We only go up there during the holidays so it could be going on more.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Nighttime, clear conditions, dark with a little light from the moon.

ENVIRONMENT: Forest of trees and a lake down the road from the cabin.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Jim Sherman:

As an investigator I have been fortunate enough to hear many possible vocalizations in the field. I think back to the amount of time I spent hunting and camping and wonder what I missed before, simply because I did not know what I was listening to. That is why I am particularly interested in cases where multiple witnesses have frequent experiences hearing vocals over a long period of time. This report from Ogemaw County is about ten miles south of the Rifle River Recreation Area and about twenty miles south of the Huron National Forest. I have camped and canoed the area as well spending a great deal of time night hiking through the woods of Huron with a red light and recorder on.

When I contacted the first witness Mr. K, he was reluctant to say that what he heard was anything other than something normal from the woods. He stated that they may have been "...a pack of coyotes attacking an animal." As kids they called the vocals "the Banshee Cries." What eventually changed the discussion away from more mundane causes for the vocals occurred when I shared clips of audio I had collected from central Michigan that seemed to be similar to his descriptions. I forwarded them and received an immediate response. A few of the vocals were similar "but not quite exact." However, this changed our discussion. We now had a reference, albeit a possible one, to work with and compare. He could remember that the vocals sounded similar to coyotes but there was something different about them. "They turned into very high-pitched screams." These vocals are as yet unpublished but will be made available after the Michigan Episode of Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot airs.

While I was in the process of talking with Mr. C his cousin emailed me with his version of the story. Mr. H's family owns the cabin where the 1998 screams were heard and stated that he too, heard them frequently and it was always late at night. He stated that the first time he heard them was Memorial Day weekend around 1 am. The following is the rest of the story in his words:

"When we first heard it, it seemed to be quite far away. About a half hour later we heard it again and it was close. I have hunted since I have been of legal age and I never heard anything like this. It sounded like a rabbit in distress, deep growling, loud cheering that was drowned out just enough you could not tell what it was, mixed in with the sound of animals The first night I tried to play it off as coyotes, but my hair was standing on end. The second night, we were sleeping in a tent outside the cabin, we went to bed a little later, and after everything had settled down, maybe 20 minutes or so, we heard it again, this time really close. My adrenaline went to overdrive immediately. Maybe 10 minutes later, we heard it again, and I got out of bed, and ran in the house. We have heard it off and on maybe every other year. All the dogs within ear shot go crazy whenever we hear it. I have listened to some of the audio on the BFRO web site and some are close but nothing dead on. Talking to the locals up there, they say they have heard odd noises that they can't explain. They also told me the dogs will not go into the woods at night."

Both witnesses have offered to help if they hear any more interesting nighttime vocals. They were straight-forward in their answers and critical in their discussion regarding the comparison vocals I shared. I found their story compelling.

About BFRO Investigator Jim Sherman:

Jim is a High School History teacher and Track and Cross Country coach. He attended the Michigan Northern Lower Peninsula Expedition in 2011, the Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition in 2012, co-organized the Michigan UP 2013 Expedition and attended the 2014 Wisconsin Expedition. He assisted in the production of Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot Michigan episodes (Bigfoot and Wolverines and Super Yooper). He participates in Ironman Triathlons and enjoys fishing and camping with his wife and daughter. Jim can be contacted at germanicus1@hotmail.com and Twitter @shermanbigfoot and his YouTube account is : Lordcryptid